I Hate Systems

"Hazen, read her mind for me, will you?" Compass Carburettor asked as he extended his hand and touched Millie on the forehead, immobilising her using a formless force.

The Truck arrived at a stop next to him as immediately, a screen appeared before them, detailing whatever memories still existed in Millie's mind.

"Noooo!"

Mysique's screech resounded as Millie shrieked in pain as a result, suffering from the creeping madness. A day later, she was able to withstand it better, for the extent of madness was reducing thanks to Stencil's efforts in shielding the 24 Rings world.

But another day later, Stencil was captured, causing the shielding to vanish. Moreover, when Zaira split open the 24 Rings protecting her world to bring out Earth Star, all the madness overflowing in the Serpent Universe gushed into the world, instantly infecting everyone to the extreme.

"Nooo…! Kyaaa!" Millie screamed as her powers went bonkers, causing the friction in her surroundings to reach absolute zero.

Immediately, every moving individual collapsed to the ground, getting hit hard. Moreover, the momentum behind the impact caused them to slide forward like they were on ice. The bodies of people, cars, bikes, and anything else that moved continued to move and collide, causing lots of chaos and damage.

Rawrr!

Millie felt a maddened sense of destruction as her emotional state fluctuated. And with every fluctuation, the friction inversed, from max to min and vice versa. One moment, the people were sliding, the other moment, their flesh was shredded apart from mere contact.

Within a few minutes, the region surrounding her turned into a land of death, covered with debris. During the war, Millie reached the peak at A-Class, almost on the verge of attaining S-Class.

So, her powers were very potent. Besides, in her maddened state, she was like an uncontrolled disaster, wreaking havoc everywhere.

"No…please…make it…stop!" She pleaded, trying her best to stop herself. In the end, she returned to her school and arrived at a stop in the training room and forcefully knocked herself unconscious.

She woke up a couple of days later, but by this time, the Serpent Universe had been thrown in the dump yard. Due to the Immiscibility nature of the dump yard, the madness in her never subsided, no matter what she tried.

Usually, the best method to deal with it was to enter a state of deep sleep and allow the madness to subside over a long course of time. And once it had subsided, the individual could wake up and function like normal.

Of course, there's a chance of the madness flaring up at the faintest trigger, but for someone without a method to deal with the mind, this was the only solution.

Unfortunately, in the dump yard, even that was impossible as the madness too remained in the same state, reverting to it even if Millie tried to make it subside by sleeping.

Years turned into decades and by then, Millie lost her mind. Her mind had shattered, despite being normal, as the laws of the dump yard dictated. She had simply surrendered to the madness every time her mind returned to normalcy.

Seven thousand years passed since then. Things had progressed beyond hope as Compass Carburettor sighed upon gaining a clearer understanding through Hazen, "To treat her, I would have to use Lore to introduce changes in her past and employ Tell-Tale to micromanage her timeline's progression and extract the madness."

"Unfortunately, that'll take a significant amount of time and energy." Saying so, he got up and arrived before the truck, "Even if I save her, she has no future since she's been fully assimilated by the laws of this dump yard."

"Can't you modify the laws of this universe using Tell-Tale?" Hazen asked, frowning at his apathetic attitude.

"I definitely can," Compass Carburettor nodded, "But, the moment the Immiscibility nature of this Dump Yard weakens even by a fraction, something monstrous would be born here."

He stared at Hazen and smiled calmly, "I have no intentions to court death. That's the extent of dangerous substances that have been dumped here."

"Oh yeah, from whom did you extract all that information from? My daughter and her group are completely deprived of all data." Compass Carburettor tilted his head in confusion.

"It's that individual over there," Hazen said and pointed at a cobra that was currently gnawing the roots of a tree.

"Dita…?" Compass Carburettor stared in the direction as his pupils dilated. He approached the cobra and touched it, watching the latter retaliate in response, slamming an energy blade at his face.

Of course, it failed to cause even a strand of his hair to flinch, but upon staring at its fate, Compass Carburettor expressed sadness.

"Is that emotion genuine?" Hazen asked as he drove the truck and parked nearby.

"Guess?" Compass Carburettor snapped back.

"It's a fraction genuine." Hazen nodded.

"Of course, it is. My original mind feels for the loss, but it's not as if my other minds are unfeeling monsters." He spoke, "In the end, they are all just versions of myself."

"You're not someone that cares about those having no relation to you though." Hazen retorted, "You're just a merchant by blood."

"You're right," Compass Carburettor didn't argue, "But I can express empathy, one that is genuine, you know."

He stared at the attacking Dita, "This is just that."

"Things regarding what happened to Rhizen and the moment when he and Stencil became Systems were memories unearthed from Dita." Hazen continued, "I went around through every being in the Serpent Universe and have gotten a good enough understanding regarding what happened."

He explained the remaining details as Compass Carburettor calmly listened.

In the end, Compass Carburettor commented, "In the end, I devoured Arnark, but fell victim to his scheme. He pulled one over me, using my actions against me."

After all, it was the plan he executed with Truck-Kun that managed to successfully transmigrate the energy-condensed form of Zaira to Mystique's domain where she was impregnated with his child. Arnark simply took advantage of that to give rise to the Fate System.

"If we're done, shall we leave this place?" Hazen said, trembling faintly, "This place gives me the creeps. It feels like numerous gazes are on me even though I can't feel any Mental Energy as a result."

"Not yet, there's one more." Saying so, Compass Carburettor got up and left the Serpent Universe, stopping beside a cluster of trash as he employed Lore and Tell-Tale to begin condensing a portal, "To bring back Stencil and the rest, we need to equip a weapon of the mind that's capable of changing their inherent disposition."

Upon seeing the portal, Hazen frowned, "You know someone that's better at controlling the mind than me?"

"There's one, look into your memories." Compass Carburettor stated solemnly, "He helped us at the start of our journey."

"Psychic Ancestor Phantom."